Jalisan's Journal, 26 March 2013

How many times do I have to START my diet? I don't want to call it a diet, I want to call it a new way of eating. I'm planning to stay away from white flour, bread, sugar, packaged products, white rice, white potatoes etc. The Paleo diet is the new "way of eating" that I am working toward. My family is in on it too. My husband is doing far better than I am. My youngest thought it was "fun" to eat healthy the other night when I made spaghetti squash for the first time.

I am trying to change too many things in my life right now all at the same time and I am not being very successful. In addition to "giving up" bread, flour, sugar, white rice and white potatoes, and my favorite, PASTA!!, I am also eager to quit drinking Captain and Coke, Bud Light, stop drinking coffee with Bailey's Non Alcoholic Creamer, quit smoking, quit eating bread, rice, pasta, potatoes, quit being lazy, give up sitting around watching TV, and at least do exercises while watching TV.

I'm very nervous about quitting smoking. I am scared to stop drinking alcohol. I'm not sure if I can stay away from bread and potatoes. I'm freaking out about 2 hours of exercise a day. I am freaking out about trying to change all of these things at the same time. Can I start the day without my Dunkin Donut Coffee with Irish Cream??

Why are you changing everything all at once? In the past I've tried your approach and it just set me up for failure. All of these things you're trying to change are habits. Why not try changing these habits one at a time. It can take over a month for a new routine to become a habit.
Why not start out with the Paleo, a month or two and get very comfortable with that. Then add in the exercise, (although 2 hours seems a but excessive, unless you're just walking or playing with your kids). Spend a month focusing on committing to regularly scheduled exercise. Then move on to quitting smoking (this will make your workout feel much easier). Give quitting smoking a month to make sure it sticks. Finally cut out drinking your calories)that you haven't already eliminated fully from switching to Paleo). 4-5 months and the process will be less overwhelming and you give yourself time to make each step a habit, instead of feeling like all of a sudden you're not allowed to be who you've been for all this time.